Draft guard for doors



J. DA PRA 1933 5 Sheets-Sheet l XX h* T a M mim.

DRAFT GUARD FOR DOORS Filed March 30,

Sept. 18, 1934.

Sept. 18, 1934.

J. DA PRA 1,9745151 DRAFT GUARD FOR DOORS Filed March 30, 1933 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Sept. 18, 1934. J. DA PRA DRAFT GUARD FOR DOORS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed March 30, 1933 3929265565: fm M 741422,.

Patented Sept. 18, 1934 UNITED sTATEs PATENT orFicE V1,974,151 limAF'r GUARD iron DooRs a James Da Pra, Chicago, Ill. Application March 30, 1933, serial No. 663,470

.2 claims' (01.20--6s` This invention relates to draft guards for doors, and more particularlyto a device to be applied to the bottom portion of the door and automatically operable, whereby the draft checking member thereof is moved into contact with the door sill or a contiguous floor surface when the door is closed, and raised from such position when the door is opened.

The invention has for its objects to produce a simple and emcient automatically operable device'of the above described character which is easily installed interchangeably on different door structures, and on either the inner or outer side of the door with but little or no material alteration except for right and left hand operation and adjustment, and to attain certain other advantages as Will hereinafter, more fully appear. The invention consists in the novel construction and in the parts and combinations and arrangements of parts as hereinafter described and pointed out with particularity in the appended claims. V

In the accompanying drawings, forming part ofA the specification, and illustrating practical adaptations of the invention,-

Fig. 1 is an A elevational view, with parts broken away to foreshorten the illustration, of the lower portion of a door frame and door, With an adaptation of the invention applied to the inner side of the door and the door in closed position; A e

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through the door frame and door, showing -the parts of the present invention in their relative positions in full lines when the door is closed and in dotted lines Fig. 6 is a similar view, on the line 6--8`of Fig. 1;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary horizontal section, on an enlarged scale, taken on or about the line 7-7 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 8 is a view, similar to Fig. 1, illustrating a modification of the invention;

'Figl 9 is a 'horizontal section, similar to Fig. 2, but of the modification illustrated in Fig. 8; and

Fig.- 10 is a fragmentary horizontal section,y

on an enlarged scale, taken on or about the line 10-10 of Fig. 8. i

. Referring now to' the drawings, the numeral 15 designates the jambs of the door frame, and 16 the door, which isfhinged in the usual way, as at 17, to one of the jambs 15, the door asV shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 4 being hung to swing open in one direction,V inwardly for example, while the door illustrated in Figs. 8 and 9 opens in the oppositedirection, or outwardly. As illustratedi in Figs. 1 to 7, inclusive, the guard device of the present invention is mounted on the inner side of the door, which adaptation will now beA described.

As shown, the device comprises an elongated base plate 18 which is secured to the face of the door, as by wood screws 19, at convenient intervals throughout its length, said base plate 18 having guide blocks 20 secured on its outer face, as by screws 21, 22. Slidable longitudinally of thebase plate 18, through notches 23 in said guide blocks 20, is a reciprocatory actuator bar 241 which is formed With rack teeth 25 in its lower edge portion for operable engagement` with toothed sector portions 26 of cam levers 27 pivotally mounted on the outer face of the base plate 18. i

As shown more clearly in Fig. 6 of the drawings, the pivots for the cam levers 27 comprise studs 28 which are shouldered and riveted at their inner ends, preferably in tapered apertures provided therefor in the base plateV 18, said cam levers being apertured to rotatably fit the projecting body portions of the studs and being retained in place by cap screws 29 inserted Vin threaded axial bores in the stud members. The cam levers 27, of which there are a cooperative pair, as shown, are adapted to engage and depress a vertically movable carrier element 30 for the dr'aft checking strip 31, to be' presently more fully described. VPreferably, each of the cam levers 27 is provided with an engagingcam protuberance 32 at its outer end, and intermediate said protuberance 32 and the pivotal axis of the element is provided'a separate cam protuberance 33.` The protuberance V33 is engaged by said vertically movable carrier' member 30 when the latter is in its raised position, and said protuberance 33 bears on said member 30 during the initial part of its downward movement. The endmost cam protuberances 32 of said lever membersV 27 are out ofv engagement with said member 30 when the latter is in its raised position and only engage it after it has moved a predetermined distance downwardly, the completion of the downward movement of said member 30 being under the pressure of the lever member 27 with its cam portion 32 bearing on the member 30.

Preferably, the carrier member 30 comprises an L-shaped metal outer section and a rabbeted Wooden filler section 34 between which is clamped the draft checking strip 31, as best shown in Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawings, said draft checking strip 31 being made of rubber, felt, or any other suitable material possessing the requisite pliability and resiliency.

As shown, the outer metal angle section of the carrier member 30 is secured to the wooden filler section by Wood screws 35. Secured on the outer face of the carrier member 30, as by screws or rivets 36, are bracket members or lugs 37 which are provided with screw-threaded apertures for the reception of correspondingly screw-threaded end portions 38 of vertical guide rods or studs 39, said rods or studs 39 being preferably provided With jam nuts 40 impinging the bracket members or lugs 37 to lock the rods or studs 89 in adjusted relation to said bracket members or lugs 37. The guide rods or studs 39 are slidably fitted to vertical bores 41 in the guide blocks 20 on the base plate 18, said rods or studs 39 being provided at their upper ends with heads 42 between which and the bottoms of enlargements 43 of said bores 41 are interposed springs 44 which are coiled about the rods or studs, said springs being under compression and functioning to raise said carrier member 30.

The relation of the toothed sector portions 26 to the cam protuberances 32, 33, of the lever members 27 is such that when the actuator bar 24 is moved in one direction said lever members 27 are actuated to raise said cam protuberances 32, 33, whereupon the spring members 44 act to lift the Carrier member 30 and its attached draft checking strip 31, as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings, in which relative positions of the parts the door 16 is opened, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2. In this actuation of the actuator bar 24 it is moved by a spring element 45, one end of which is attached to an apertured lug 46 on the side face of the adjacent guide block 20, the opposite end of said spring 45 being attached to a lug 47 on a bracket member 48 secured on the end portion of said actuator bar 24, said spring element being constantly under tension and tending to move the bar 24 in the direction away from the bracket member 48; or, in other words, toward the left as viewed in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 of the drawings.

As a convenient means of attachment, Whereby said bracket member 48 may be readily detached and applied interchangeably at either end of the bar 24 so as to adapt the draft checking device for installation on doors with either right or left hand swing, said bar is preferably provided with a pair of apertures 49, 50, the aperture 49 being adapted to receive a securing screw 51, and the aperture 50 a dowel pin or stud 52 provided on a lateral base extension 53 of the bracket member, the engagement of the dowel pin or stud in the aperture 50 serving to hold the bracket member from rotative movement.

Attached, in any suitable manner, to the bracket member 48, is a fiexible cord or cable element 54, the attachment, as shown more clearly in Fig. 7 of the drawings, being effected by threading the end portion of said eord or cable 54 through an aperture 55 provided therefor in the bracket member and knotting the end of the cord or cable, as at 56, or otherwise providing against its withdrawal through the aperture 55 of the bracket member 48. The opposite end portion of the cord or cable element 54 is carried through an axial bore in a screW-threaded adjusting bushing 57 fitted in a screw-threaded aperture provided therefor in a bracket member 58, said bracket member 58 being provided With a triangular base plate 59 which is secured by screws 60 to the outer finishing strip 61 of the jamb 15 of the doorway. Preferably, the screwthreaded bushing 57 is provided with a collar vportion 62 by which it may be conveniently grasped for adjustment, and a spherical bead 63 is sleeved on the protruding end portion of the cord or cable element 54 to serve as an antifriction thrust bearing between the bushing member 57 and the knotted extreme end portion 64 of the cord or cable element 54.

In practice, the bushing member 57 is adjusted so that, when the door 16 is opened, the cord or cable element 54 is sufiiciently slack to permit the spring element 45 to move the actuator bar.

24 in the direction to raise the cam levers 27 and permit the spring elements 44 to in turn raise the carrier member 30 and its draft check'- ing stripA 31; but When the door is closed the cord' or cable element 54 is stretched taut; and, due to its length and attachment to the bracket member 48, the actuator bar 24 is moved longitudinally reversely to the direction to which it was actuated by the spring 45 when the door Was opened. This relative longitudinal movement of the actuator bar 24, in either direction, is very slight as compared to the vertical movement imparted to the carrying member 30 for the draft checking strip 31; that is to say, in actual practice, the bar 24 moves approximately a quarter of an inch in its reciprocation, while the carrier member 30 moves approximately three-quarters of an inch in its operation, this measurement varying more or less according to the adjustment for each particular installation.

For installation on an outwardly opening instead of an inwardly opening door, the device of the present invention is mounted on the opposite side of the door, as shown in Figs. 8 and 9 of the drawings, and in such an installation the operation of the actuator bar 24 is reversely to that in the installation on the inwardly opening door as illustrated in Figs. 1, 2, and 4 of the drawings= The same relative parts, such as the base plate 18, actuator bar 24, cam levers 27, carrier member 30, draft checkinrf strip 31, vertical guide rods or studs 39, and spring elements 44, are employed in both modifications, but, however, with reversal of the cam levers 27, according to the swing of the door inwardly or outwardly and from which side of the doorway it swings. The main difference is that, instead of using a tension spring, as at 45, in Figs. 1, 2,

and 4, a compression spring 45a is employed, as`

shown in Figs. 8, 9, and 10, said compression spring being sleeved supportingly at one end on a stud 65 projected from the face of the guide block 20, and at its opposite end on the projected end portion 66 of a pusher rod 67 which is screw-threaded, as at 68, and adjustably fitted in a oorrespondingly threaded opening 69 provided therefor in the bracket member 48, said rod 67 being looked in its adjusted position by jam nut 70. At its free end the rod 67 is preferably provided with a spherical knob 71 adapted to bear against a Striker plate 72 secured on the door stop 73 of the adjacent jamb 15.v

In the modification just above described, the spring element 45a is, of course, normally under compression instead ofi tension, as in the modification illustrated in Figs. 1, 2, and 4; and, said spring element 45a being interposed between the stationary guide block 20 and said bracket member 48 on the actuator bar 24, the latter is accordingly moved endwise in the direction to lift the cam levers 27 and thereby permit the Springs 44 to raise the carrier member 30 and its draft checking strip 31 when there is no obstruction such as the striker plate 72 in the path of the pusher rod 67. In other words, when the door 16 is in opened position, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 9 of the drawings, the cam levers 27 and the correlated parts are in raised position, substantially as shown in Fig. 4; but when the door is closed, as shown in horizontal section in full lines in Fig. 9 and in elevation in Fig. 8, the pusher rod 67 has engaged the Striker plate '72 and thereby shifted the actuator bar 24 in the direction away from said striker plate 72 so as to rock the cam levers downwardly and correspondingly depress the carrier member 30 and its draft checking strip 31.

As shown in Figs. 1, 4, and 8 of the drawings, the rack teeth 25 on the actuator bar 24 are arranged in correlated sets of two fully formed teeth with three counterpart recesses for the reception of the double-toothed sectors 26 of said cam levers 27, this being to permit and facilitate the reversal of said cam levers 27 for the interchangeable application of the device of the present invention on either right or left opening doors; that is to say, by reference to Fgs. 1, 4, and 8 of the drawings, it will be noted that only two of the three recesses in the actuator bar 24 are in working engagement With the two sector teeth of the cam lever 27 in both the raised and lowered positions of the latter. Hence, when the cam levers 27 are reversely mounted, for the reasons hereinabove stated, the middle recess and the third or previously unoccupied recess are utilized. So, too, for the reversed operation of the device of the present invention as above indicated, the guide blocks 20 are made in rights and lefts so that the apertured lugs 46 are on opposite sides of the block, and, for the same purpose, the studs 65 on the blocks 20 for the modification illustrated in Figs. 8, 9, and 10, are also provided in right and left hand arrangement.

Obviously, the device admits of considerable modification within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. The invention, therefore, is not limited to the specific construction and arrangement shown in the accompanying drawings.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a draft checking device for doors, a draft checking element movably mounted with relation to the edge portion of the door whereby to engage the adjacent surface about the door- Way, resilient means for yieldably holding said draft checking element in retracted position, and 'means for moving 'said element to projected draft checking position, said means comprising lever members having cam protuberances at their outer ends free from contact with said draft checking element in its retracted position, and cam protuberances intermediate their outer ends and pivotal aXes engaging said draft checking element in its retracted position and during the initial part of its movement for projection, said endmost cam protuberances of said lever members engaging and pressing said element during the completion of its movement of projection to draft checking position.

2. In a draft checking device for doors, a draft checking element movably mounted with relation to the edge portion of the door whereby to engage the adjacent surface about the door- Way, resilient means for yieldably holding said draft checking element in retracted position, means for moving said element to projected draft checking position, said means comprising oscillatory lever members having cam protuberances at their outer ends free from contact with said draft checking element in its retracted position, and cam protuberances intermediate their outer ends and pivotal axes engaging said draft checking element in its retracted positionl and during the initial part of its movement for projection, said endmost cam protuberances of said lever members engaging and pressing said element during the completion of its movement of projection to draft checking position, said lever members having toothed sector portions, and means for actuating said lever members, comprising a reciprocatory rack bar engaging said sector portions of said lever members whereby to oscillate the latter, spring means for moving said rack bar in one direction, and means operably applied between said rack bar and a part 'of the doorway Whereby to positively move said rack bar in the opposite direction and thereby actuate said lever members and project said draft checking element into engagement with the adjacent surface about the doorway when the door is closed. 

